The Elections of 1959

by Arnold Betram.

“One Good Term Deserves Another”

On February 2, 1955, Norman Manley was sworn in as Chief Minister of Jamaica as the PNP settled down to the challenges of leading the government for the first time. Manley’s acceptance speech reflected the sense of purpose and commitment to nation building that already characterised his public life, “ I have spent my life on many cases and now I turn my back for good and all on that life. I take into my hands the case of the people of Jamaica before the bar of history, against poverty and need. The case of my country for a better life and freedom in our land”.

In the ten years between the introduction of Universal Adult Suffrage and the PNP’s victory, the national movement had found the going difficult against the charismatic Bustamante as well as cultural conservatism and pro-British orientation of the Jamaican masses. Finally the tide had turned and Norman Manley, in his first address to the House of Representatives, set out to regain the momentum for the self-government campaign by affirming the determination of his administration “to achieve self government … achieve a Federation of the West Indies and to strive with all that we have to maintain and advance the social and economic life of the country.”

A New Approach to Economic Development

Even before the elections, Manley had already thought out an approach to development and wasted no time in implementing it. As far back as 1950, he had conceived of a Central Planning Unit, which would attract investments of some $55m to create 250,000 new jobs in five years. To lead this critical institution he convinced Arthur Goldschmidt, Acting Director General of the Technical Assistance Administration at the UN, to release one of their consultants George Cadbury, an economic advisor and planner. He also recruited Samuel Moment, a marketing economist who had worked with Bonneville Power Administration in the USA, as well as the aluminum industry during the Korean War, to advise him on his negotiations with the bauxite companies.

The following year two extremely able Jamaicans were promoted to fill critical posts in the administration. The first was Egerton Richardson who was elevated to the position of Financial Secretary and the second was G. Arthur Brown who was appointed director of the Central Planning Unit.

In reorganizing the bauxite industry, Manley immediately reviewed the 1950 agreement and negotiated an escalator clause whereby one half of the total income tax and royalty would vary with the price of aluminium itself. In addition, the profit and tax payment would now be computed in US dollars, a much stronger currency than the British pound. The new agreement also increased the assumed rate of profit from 60 cents a ton to $3.85 for income tax, while the old royalty of 10 cents was increased to 40 cents. These new inflows wiped out Jamaica’s trade deficit overnight. It was a proud Norman Manley who informed the House of Representatives that: “The present gap between imports and exports is of the order of £18m … will be wiped out entirely as bauxite and alumina become the largest by far in our export returns”.

While Jamaica’s tourist industry had grown in the previous administration and measures such as the Hotel Incentive Act had been implemented, no government had actively promoted tourism in Jamaica. Abe Issa, as a member of the Jamaican Trade Development Board, had tried unsuccessfully for years to convince successive governments that tourism could become Jamaica’s major industry. As Abe recalls: “I spoke to Busta, I talked to Sangster. I discussed it with Manley, I pleaded with Nethersole….that tourism could be our biggest industry.

Finally, in 1955 Abe convinced the PNP Minister of Trade Wills O. Isaacs that tourism could indeed become Jamaica’s biggest business. The Tourism Board Law was passed and the antiquated Jamaican Trade Development Board was renamed the Jamaica Tourist Board, with Abe Issa as Chairman, a position he held from 1955 until 1963. Visitor arrivals numbered 75,000 in 1950 grew to 316,000 by 1965, while earnings rose from £3m in 1950 to £23m over the same period.

In a radio broadcast on November 10, 1957, Manley was able to report that:

“The Jamaican economy is expanding at a rate faster than that of most countries in the world. Actually at a faster rate than any other West Indian island, at a faster rate than Puerto Rico or England, or the United States or even Canada, which is way up on top in the world so far as speed of expansion”.

Expanding Access to Quality Education

In 1955, the education and training system established by the British at the beginning of the 20th century remained virtually intact. Less than 3% were enrolled in elite high schools, where they received a first class classical education and where the dissemination of British cultural values were well suited for the development of a white and Afro-Saxon elite. The overwhelming masses of Jamaican children were relegated to the elementary schools where for the most part they were expected to be taught basic reading, writing and arithmetic and exposed to those vocational skills which would fit them for agricultural or domestic labour.

Here and there by dint of hard work, special relationship with a teacher or the guidance of capable parents some children made a breakthrough. This was however the exception, not the rule. It was Manley who in 1957 introduced a Common Entrance and a free place system, which by 1959 had expanded high school enrollment to 11% of the population some four times what it was in 1955. Then in 1958 the College of Arts, Science and Technology was established to provide technical education at the tertiary level for graduates of the island’s Technical Schools, which were all reorganized around a modern curriculum to produce the labour force required for Jamaica’s manufacturing and mining sectors.

It was in this period that the reforms in education facilitated the expansion and modernization, building on the best of what existed to provide unprecedented access to quality education and training. In the end the basis was laid for an education system where access to the top was based far more on merit than on colour or class and one, which raised cultural standards, expanded the middle class and improved the productivity of the Jamaican labour force.

Full Internal Self-Government

Manley quickly built a partnership with Governor Hugh Foot with whom he shared a firm belief in the appropriateness of British institutions, the Methodist faith and a genuine desire to accelerate the decolonisation process. At the outset Foot had linked his tenure as Governor with the achievement of Caribbean nationhood: “First that the people of the British West Indies should show that they can govern themselves well….in a way which can be an envy to our neighbours and an example to all – with freedom and fairness and fearlessness and faith in themselves”.

Foot’s record confirmed that he honoured his commitment. His last piece of legislation was the constitutional proposals in April 1957, providing for internal self-government. The Royal Proclamation, which gave effect to the amended Constitution, was fittingly read by Governor Foot before his departure from the island.

Federation

The first major setback for the PNP came in the Federal Elections of 1958. With the departure of Foot in 1957 Manley lost a vital collaborator and a source of influence in the Colonial Office which weakened the PNP’s capacity to negotiate with the skill that was required to make Federation succeed. At another level, the expulsion of the Marxists from the Party in 1952 deprived the PNP of some of its finest cadres and created a void in the PNP’s organizational and educational capacity which was not fully recognised until the federal debacle between 1958 and 1961.

With the Federal elections set for 1958, Manley was about to call on the Jamaican people to make a crucial decision on a West Indian Federation, without adequate information or careful explanation as to the issues involved and how their interests would be best served. The subject had never even been seriously discussed and analyzed within the Party or among the Jamaican people. It was assumed throughout the Caribbean that Manley would be elected as the first Federal Prime Minister. Against the background of these expectations, Norman Manley, the premiere statesman in the region, who since 1947 had presented the Federation of the West Indies as most vital to Jamaica’s future declined to offer himself for leadership.

This is how the historian Vic Reid described the night that Norman Manley made that momentous decision not to offer himself as the first Prime Minister of the West Indies:

“The great crowd that spilled over Half-Way-Tree square the night of the announcement, had waited impatiently for him to descend from Drumblair to say whether he would stay or go … A hush greeted the climatic ‘I am staying’. The reaction was disquieting. Although he drew cheers, for the first time since the seesaw days of 1938 – 1943, ominously, N.W. Manley drew some boos in his city, scattered and half-hearted, but unmistakably of the bad stuff. It had been an agonizing decision and as lacerating to his hearers. It hurt and bewildered his supporters …”

Contrary to all expectations, the PNP lost the Federal Elections and lost them badly winning only 5 of the 17 federal seats allocated to Jamaica.

Signs of Renewal in the JLP

The JLP under Bustamante supported the progressive measures of the government but never failed to remind them of the sure foundations laid by the JLP in the first decade of Universal Adult Suffrage. While the PNP was clearly ahead at this stage, a process of renewal had begun in the JLP centred on three new faces. The first was Robert Lightbourne a graduate of Jamaica College who worked as Managing Director of the Industrial Development Corporation between 1952 and 1955. In the Federal elections of 1958 he was elected as the representative for the parish of St. Thomas but subsequently resigned his seat to contest the Western St. Thomas constituency for the JLP. Lightbourne brought ability and experience to politics.

The second was Edward Seaga, a young Harvard trained sociologist who, on his return to Jamaica, had immersed himself in Bustamante’s old constituency of Western Kingston living with the people and observing cultural patterns. Seaga who also played a pioneering role in Jamaica’s popular music industry had a passion for politics and was close to Bustamante.

The third member of the triumvirate was D.C. Tavares who, like Lightbourne, attended Jamaica College. At age 29 he was elected secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party and in 1955 he was unsuccessful in his bid to take Eastern Kingston from Florizel Glasspole. He also lost in the by-elections to fill the vacancy created by Nethersole’s death in March 1959. Perhaps because of these losses he had learnt more than any of his colleagues about politics. A significant factor in his political development was his association with Ken Hill who had become a member of the JLP.

One Good Term Deserves Another

The JLP made Federation the central issue in their campaign. Indeed, the final JLP statement published just before the elections and signed by Lightbourne was an attack on Federation and its negative implications for Jamaica.

Nethersole’s death on March 17, 1959, was a major blow for Manley and the PNP. In four years as Minister of Finance he had created the Development Finance Corporation, negotiated with Richardson’s assistance Jamaica’s first loan on the American Money Market and completed the preparatory work for a local stock exchange as well what would be his greatest achievement, the Bank of Jamaica. It is said that Manley wept the day Nethersole died and described him as “a man of unshakeable courage and loyalty and an inspiration to everybody who walked beside him”.

The PNP recovered in time to present a budget the following month, which excited the electorate and enhanced the prospects of a second PNP term. Its record of performance in legislation, institution building and social services particularly education made the PNP the clear pre-election favourite. Public expenditure had doubled, and across the island there was a new confidence in Jamaica’s possibilities. It is against this background that Manley called the elections for July 1959, some six months before it was due.

For the elections, the number of seats was increased from 32 to 45, and a record 66.09% of the electorate polled their votes. When the results were announced, the PNP had won 29 of the 45 seats. It had also increased its percentage of the popular votes to 54.8%. It was the first time since 1944 that the electorate had shown such confidence in a Party’s second term in office. In the parish of St. Elizabeth, the PNP had assigned responsibilities for the campaign to a 24-year-old graduate of the University of the West Indies, Percival James Patterson, who after graduation had postponed law studies to become an organizer for the PNP. In the election, the PNP won three of the four seats in the parish and lost the fourth by a mere 15 votes.

Even in defeat, there were signs of renewal for the JLP as both Lightbourne and Tavares won their respective seats and Seaga was named to the Upper House. Shearer went down to defeat in Western Kingston at the hands of the PNP’s H.R. Wallace. The four small parties that contested the election received only 1% of the vote.

The victory of Manley and the PNP in the elections of 1959 was a just reward for an administration, which had carried Jamaica to the forefront of developing countries.